


Mistletoe And Whine

by kcstories



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: AU, Canon Divergence, Fluff, Getting Together, Hogwarts Era, M/M, Pre-Ron Weasley/Hermione Granger - Freeform, Written Pre-Deathly Hallows, flangst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-12-21
Updated: 2006-12-21
Packaged: 2018-08-15 01:57:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8037712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kcstories/pseuds/kcstories
Summary: The Seventh Year Yule Ball brings a few surprises.





	Mistletoe And Whine

**Author's Note:**

> **Ships:** Harry/Draco, Greg/Pansy, pre-Ron/Hermione  
>  **Warnings:** Fluff.  
>  **Disclaimer:** The Potterverse is JKR's, not mine.  
>  **A/N:** This is a seventh year AU written almost ten years ago (December 2006). It only bears a passing resemblance to canon.

Harry walked out onto the balcony and let out a deep breath he didn't know he'd been holding.  
  
Once again, he inwardly cursed Headmistress McGonagall for organising a Yule Ball this year. Because, really, who needed it?  
  
Least of all him. Maybe he'd have been better off if he’d just stayed in his room tonight. Even Hermione's nagging wouldn't have been as bad as this.  
  
There were happy couples everywhere he looked. They only made him feel even more out of place. Certainly, he was a war hero now, The Boy Who Lived To Vanquish You-Know-Who, but that didn't render him any less socially inept.  
  
"Well well well," a voice to his left said out of the blue, "if it isn't the famous Harry Potter..."  
  
Harry turned around and suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. Malfoy. Of course. Who else would it be?  
  
"What do you want?" Harry snapped, not bothering to conceal his irritation.  
  
"I believe I should be the one asking that question," he retorted with a smirk. "After all, I was here first."  
  
Harry sighed resignedly. "I don't want anything," he said flatly. "Except for some peace and quiet. Do you suppose we could manage that? Just be here together, at the same time, and not bother one another?"  
  
Draco shrugged. "Works for me."  
  
"Good. Thank you."  
  
Harry took a few steps to the left. He sat down, his back against the wall, and wrapped his arms around his knees.  
  
True to his word, Malfoy remained silent. Harry glanced over to where he stood. Draco was looking out over the beautifully lit grounds, resting his arms on the banister. Harry found himself thinking the boy seemed to get more gorgeous with every passing year. He was tall and slim. His blond hair was no longer slicked back with an insane amount of gel like it used to be. These days, he wore it loose and it went just past his shoulders.  
  
Harry inhaled deeply. He'd felt a strong attraction towards Draco for a while, and he was no longer as ashamed of it as he had been about a year ago, when he'd first realised.  
  
After all, Malfoy and his mother had joined The Order during the war, and with Lucius back in Azkaban and the Malfoys about to divorce, there was really nothing Harry could hold against his former rival anymore. Unless you counted random acts of teenage stupidity, but no one was immune to those.  
  
"You know, Potter," Draco remarked, "I'm not familiar with your definition of _bothering someone_ , but I've been taught it's pretty rude to stare."  
  
"Sorry," Harry blurted out, as a blush crept up his cheeks. No, there was nothing quite like having the social graces of a sloshed Hippogriff.  
  
Draco merely shrugged. "Why did you come out here anyway?" he asked, turning around.  
  
"It was too crowded in there," Harry answered honestly, "and kind of depressing."  
  
"Why?" Draco asked with a grin. "No willing party to drag under the mistletoe?"  
  
Harry considered taking the bait, but soon decided it wouldn't be worth it. Besides, they weren't thirteen anymore. "No," he said simply, more bitterness seeping through than he'd intended. "No one. And feel free to laugh at that. I'm sure everyone else is."  
  
Draco frowned. He walked over to where Harry was sitting and sank down next to him. "Why would I laugh at you?" he asked in a serious tone, one Harry hadn't ever heard him use before. "I'm not snogging anyone in there either, am I?"  
  
"No," Harry said slowly, and asked carefully, "Did you and Pansy break up or something? Not that it's any of my business..."  
  
"No, Potter." Draco laughed. "We were never even together. She's with Goyle."  
  
"What?!"  
  
"Since third year, actually. Best kept secret in Slytherin," Draco announced proudly, "and that's saying something."  
  
"But... But...,” Harry spluttered, “the two of you were inseparable for years."  
  
Draco shook his head. "It's called a smokescreen, Potter,” he explained with a smirk. “I assume you're familiar with the term?"  
  
"Yes, of course I am. But... why? For what?"  
  
"Oh, let's see," Draco said casually. "The fact that I'm gay, for one thing. Father didn't know back then, and he definitely wouldn't have approved. So we made a deal. It was much better for Pansy that way too. Her parents are very conservative. They knew and trusted me. Greg, on the other hand, they’d never even met."  
  
Harry swallowed hard, his head reeling. One part of the announcement had really knocked him for six. "You're… _gay_?" he breathed.  
  
"Don't worry," Draco said dryly. "I'm not going to pounce you now, if that's what you're afraid of."  
  
"No, I..." He bit his lip and whispered. "That's not what I meant."  
  
"Oh?" Draco raised a quizzical eyebrow. "Then what did you mean?"  
  
"Well, see, um… the thing is... I am too."  
  
"You are too," Draco parroted, just before his eyes widened in realisation. "I had no idea," he said, suddenly sounding a little rattled, himself.  
  
"Only Hermione, Remus, Tonks and the Weasleys know for now," Harry said softly. "The press will have a field day when they find out and I'm not ready to deal with that yet, not so soon after..."  
  
Draco simply nodded in understanding.  
  
They sat in silence for a few more minutes, both wrapped up in their own thoughts.  
  
"So do you like anyone?" Harry asked, not entirely sure why he did, maybe just to break the silence, which was getting thick and uncomfortable.  
  
Draco let out a small laugh. "No one who'd like me back in a million years. How about you?"  
  
"Same sort of thing."  
  
"Then we're a fine pair, aren't we?"  
  
Harry didn’t reply straight away. The word _pair_ had sent an involuntary shiver down his spine, but he tried his best to ignore it. Not in a million years, indeed. Then he said, "This isn't related to tonight or anything, Malfoy, but do you reckon you and I could call a truce?"  
  
"A truce?" Draco frowned. "Have we even fought this year?"  
  
“Um.” Harry pondered on that for a moment, before he replied, "No, now that you mention it, we haven't, really, but still... I don’t know, I just thought we could make amends before we finish school, officially leave all that childish crap behind us, that sort of thing.”  
  
With that, Harry took a deep breath and held out his hand.  
  
Draco hesitated. The memories Potter’s gesture brought back weren't exactly pleasant, and somewhere inside of him, a rejected eleven-year-old still wanted nothing better than to even the score, get back at Potter for turning him down all those years ago, but then his seventeen-year-old self decided Harry was right.  
  
They were both adults now, or as good as, and the time had come to put that silly rivalry behind them, and to get on with their lives.  
  
Draco shook Harry's hand and smiled.  
  
It was probably the first time he'd ever genuinely smiled at him, and for the second time that night, Harry was completely stunned. When his eyes met Draco’s, he couldn’t help but blush furiously. Embarrassed, he looked down at the ground.  
  
"Potter, are you all right?" Draco asked, unsure what to make of the boy’s odd behaviour and flushed cheeks. “Harry?”  
  
At the sound of his given name, Harry looked up again.  
  
Questioning green eyes met surprised grey once more, and this time, their gazes locked.  
  
Another silence set in, and it held a very different kind of tension than before.  
  
After a few very loaded minutes, Draco was unable to take any more. “Oh, sod it,” he mumbled to himself. He roughly pulled Harry towards him and kissed his former rival full on the lips.  
  
Harry, for his part, was far too overwhelmed to react. His head was spinning, his heart was beating a mile a minute, and by the time his mind had caught up with the fact that Draco was kissing him, Draco was already pulling away again, a defeated look on his face.  
  
Inwardly kicking himself, Draco nervously cleared his throat. "So, I suppose this is the part where apologise," he said, unable to hide his disappointment. "I clearly misread the situation."  
  
"No," Harry stammered, suddenly shocked back to reality. "No. You didn’t."  
  
"All right. Then wha-"  
  
Draco never got the chance to say what he was about to, because this time Harry kissed him, with none of the hesitation he had shown earlier.  
  
Granted, it was a little clumsy, and Draco could only assume that even at seventeen, Harry was still rather new to this, but the truth of the matter was that Draco had been dreaming of this moment for years, so why complain about silly technicalities? Besides, what Harry apparently lacked in experience, he more than made up for in enthusiasm.  
  


* * *

  
  
A worried Pansy Parkinson opened one of the balcony doors.  
  
Since Draco had seemed a little out of sorts earlier, and because she hadn't seen him in either the Ballroom or the dungeons, she had begun a little search, just to make sure he was fine.  
  
She didn’t expect him to do something terribly stupid, but he wasn’t above getting phenomenally drunk, throwing a bit of a pity party, and making a complete arse out of himself in the process. Something that was better avoided, because he always felt terrible the following day, and not only on the hangover front.  
  
She looked around curiously, until a strange noise caught her attention and drew her gaze down to the floor. There and then, she had to clamp a hand over her mouth to stop herself from giggling.  
  
Relieved to discover Draco was all right (very much so, in fact), she quietly went back inside, softly closing the door behind her.  
  
"He's not out there either?" a waiting Greg enquired.  
  
"Yes, he is," Pansy said with a grin.  
  
"Then why didn't you...."  
  
"He's with Potter," she clarified.  
  
"With Potter." Greg's eyes widened. "You don’t mean....?"  
  
"Oh yes. They're snogging each other senseless out there, so I thought it might be best to leave them to it."  
  
"What?" Greg sounded a little put out. "So we won't even need to use the enchanted mistletoe? Blast! That one took ages to charm just right."  
  
Pansy thought about that for a few moments, before she remarked mischievously, "Well, Granger and Weasley looked pretty miserable back there, didn't they?"  
  
"You're right," Greg agreed. "They did."  
  
Pansy grinned and grabbed her boyfriend by the arm. "Come on, love," she said. "Tis the season to be jolly as they say, so you and I have some work to do."


End file.
